Program Trading Is 57.3%
Of NYSE Volume in Week

Updated Nov. 4, 2005 12:01 a.m. ET

NEW YORK -- Program trading in the week ended Oct. 28 accounted for 57.3%, or an average of 1,046.8 million shares daily, of New York Stock Exchange volume. Brokerage firms executed an additional 634.9 million daily shares of program trading away from the NYSE, with 0.5% of the overall total on foreign markets. Program trading is the simultaneous purchase or sale of at least 15 different stocks with a total value of $1 million or more.

Of the program total on the NYSE, 8.6% involved stock-index arbitrage. In this strategy,...